*looks at winning vote*
*sigh*
Not to relitigate a past vote, but this was dumb as hell.
We walked into a diplomatic meeting without Empathy Excellency or All Things Betray or Naked Wicked Secrets. We left not one but every information gathering charm unused, and left everyone who could have helped give us alternative viewpoints behind.
Why?
We know fuckall about the person on the other side of the table.
Even if Intimidation worked, if they have a good poker face we wouldnt be able to tell that they are intimidated short of their breaking down completely. Because social Perception is Perception + Empathy.
And by escalating to Intimidation as a first choice, we have made it hard to climb down.
Nowhere to escalate to besides violence.
Whats done is done.
But its an actual lesson to take to heart for next time.
===
We only spent 2 motes so far. We can spend two more before we lose control of our anima
Doesnt really matter here thankfully. No mundanes, so if we start glowing green it doesnt matter.
OTOH, we're going to burn more Essence than we had to because we chose the wrong Abilities to start with.
Ok, I'd really have preferred to use Lady Eiko herself as a focus for how to free her soul
We might need to use the Crown here though.
Just a small note on the update. In canon, I think it is only greater akuma whose souls are bound to gold and jade flasks in their master's hell, like a type of D&D lich. They'r3 the only ones that respawn in a Hell when they're killed.
Lesser akuma's souls still reside in their bodies, I think. Greater akuma sell their actual souls. Lesser akuma sold shares of ownership rights over their soul (like shares in a company) rather than actual pieces of their soul. When a Yama King owns all the shares, they then had right to demand that the akuma performed the Rite of Renunciation (and only that right, until the Rite is performed that's the limit of their authority). Performing that Rite then essentially gives the Yama King admin permissions to the akuma's soul (and also strips them of their prior dharma). In Dresdenverse terms it's lpretty similar to being obliged to speak their full True Name to someone. With those admin rights the Yama King is able to make further modifications.
Despite this, a lesser akuma still has their soul. They've just signed away ownership rights to it and given someone else open ended permissions to do anything they want to it.
That probably makes it much easier to save a lesser akuma, as we don't have to physically invade a Hell to steal their soul back. Just nullify the contract they've signed and somehow change the permissions on their soul.
1) You get one use of the Crown with Eiko as a focus.
Using the Crown to figure out how to free her soul doesnt actually tell you if its worth freeing, or if she's dealing in good faith.
She can both be planning to free herself and still not be willing to do any more.
Furthermore, i think it bears reminding you that you were disputing that Mercy in Servitude would work.
If you dont believe it works?
Then you have to consider that being told how to do something doesnt provide the means or the time to do it ie using the Crown to figure out how to free Eiko doesnt mean we can do it immediately.
As an aside, we need to buy countermagic.
2)You are misremembering.
While only greater akuma get to respawn in Yomi when killed? All Akuma have their souls sealed into jade /and gold items.
Thousand Hells p103.
Iris Bulb Commerce said:
Despite this, Lesser Commerce is disturbingly common.
The rewards that the Lords of Yomi Wan can offer for even
paltry favors are enough to make it seem worthwhile to many
Kuei-jin, especially jina eager to get ahead in their courts or
embittered heimin and exiles with nothing to lose. While it
would not be politic to say that a majority of Kuei-j in undertake
such commerce at some point in their unlives, it would be
disturbingly close to the truth. As in all transgressions, the sin
lies not in the guilt over the performance of the deed, but in the
shame of being caught.
The next category of dealing with the Yama Kings is Soul
Commerce, also called Iris Bulb Commerce because it splits up
the Kuei-jin's soul as the gardener splits up iris bulbs when they
are reihoved from the ground for the winter. In this form of
commerce, the Kuei-j in enters into negotiations with a Yama
King or his representatives, usually by summoning them though
the Ritual of the Black Peony. Though the Yama Kings occa-
sionally approach prospective akuma themselves, they are as a
rule uninterested in dealings with those who do not have the
determination, resources and skill to perform the ritual. Thus,
Iris Bulb Commerce is, by and large, the province of jina and
mandarins. Only the most talented Running Monkeys will
make it over the minimum competence bar, and even fewer of
these souls are valuable enough for a lord of Yomi Wan to deign
to negotiate directly.
If the ritual is successful in contacting the appropriate
Yama King, the Kuei-jin states what favors, power or know;
edge he wishes to purchase. If the Yama King or her represent
tative are interested, the two parties then engage in an compli-
cated and ritualistic series of legal negotiations to determine
what size piece of the Kuei-jin's soul will be taken in payment.
The resulting contract, written in blood on white silk, is signed
with a jade seal that contains the portion of the soul given. It
is possible — though not easy — for a skilled and clever Kuei^
jin to "cheat" the Yama King, cleverly placing a clause in rife
contract that allows him to substitute a mortal's soul or a jade
effigy for his own soul, to pay with a decayed or otherwise
valueless portion of his soul, or otherwise to evade the clutches
of the Yama King. On the other hand, it is much more likely for
the Yama King to come out ahead, seizing much more of the
Guan Ren's soul than he bargained for, or even becoming its
sole owner.
Why this is so is a matter of speculation among the
philosophers who make it their habit to dwell on such forbid-
den topics. Some believe that it is a result of some mandate of
the August Personage of Jade, while others believe that the
Yama Kings themselves abidg by these laws to tempt Kuei-jin
into dealing with them. Otfers note that these are the same
laws that are used to negotiate contracts between the various
inhabitants of Yomi, and speculate that the ability of Kuei-jin
to occasionally come out ahead in their dealings with the Yama
Kings is a coincidence (happy or otherwise) of the deep-rooted
desire of the Yama Kings to cheat one another, thus demon-
strating the negative karmic effects of dishonesty. Whatever
the case, the flickering hope that one may outwit the lords of
Hell and come out a "winner" has tempted many otherwise
intelligent Kuei-jin in difficult positions to come to the table
with a Yama King in hope of bettering their situations.
However in Dresdenfiles,
souls can and do regrow.
Thats how Dresden can burn chunks of his own soul for soulfire without permanent damage. And how Lash was running on part of his own prior to her death, iirc. And how Bonea was born.
So there's a good chance that akuma soul mechanics here in the Dresdenverse are different from canon Kindred of the East/World of Darkness. Thats something to ask the QM.
